Pavel Rabko

Affiliated media: TV channel Ranak, Videographer

Incident date: June 12, 2023

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Svetlahorsk

Additional information:

The court of the Svetlahorsk district of the Homel region imposed administrative arrests and fines on the employees of the local TV channel Ranak, finding them guilty under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Belarus (possession and distribution of extremist materials). Andrey Lipsky and Pavel Rabko were sentenced to 7 days of arrest each and confiscation of mobile phones, while Vadzim Vezhnavets and Uladzimir Papou were sentenced to 3 days of arrest each. Maryna Bychkouskaya, Alena Kisyalyova and Krystsina Kazyalkova were fined BYN 925 (USD 366) each. Later, Hanna Zgurskaya and Lizaveta Shavyalenka were fined BYN 780 with confiscation of mobile phones. The employees of Ranak were detained on June 9 shortly after the broadcasting of a story about the accident at Svetlahorsk Pulp and Paperboard Mill that killed people. All were detained in different places after the working day. One of the women was detained in another town.